Arkansas Epilogue

I’m glad Procter & Gamble signed on with the LPGA, but that tournament title is way too long – especially when you start tacking on the “Presented by John Q. Hammons” part.

Seon Hwa Lee now trails only Se Ri Pak, Mi Hyun Kim, Grace Park and Hee-Won Han among Koreans on the LPGA career victory list. Her four victories are only two fewer than Park and Han and she has already doubled-up Jeong Jang (2) and Meena Lee (2). Not bad for 2.5 years’ work. Her win extends the Asian victory streak to five-and-a-half, going back to Leta Lindley’s win at Corning (Leta is half-Thai).

The scoring average at Pinnacle Country Club was the lowest of any event this season – 71.37. The previous low was 71.54 at the Michelob, which was par-71. Arkansas joins the Fields Open and Safeway International as the only events to average under par in 2008. Lift-clean-place rules all three days plus the soft greens set up the low numbers.

Several times on Saturday, Bill Macatee referred to the “resurgent season” Helen Alfredsson is having. I’ll admit Helen’s second-place finish in the U.S. Open is a resurgence of sorts, but that is her only Top 10 finish this year (T18 at Sybase is her second-best) and she’s missed six cuts. Let Helen collect another good finish or two before we declare her a contender again.

This week’s Big Surprise is Katherine Hull. She just missed her second Top 10 of the year (T11 is pretty close). My Big Disappointment is Mi Hyun Kim – she missed her second cut of the year after I picked her as a CYA.

I would like to hand out some special kudos to the entire CBS crew and lpga.com for the three-hour webcast yesterday after the scheduled two-hour telecast. It’s hard to beat five hours of women’s golf (three of them commercial-free!) on a Sunday afternoon.